Santa Paula - 2

House (Santa Paula) - Ventura County  2019

Ranchero Zamora (Santa Paula) - Ventura County  2019

Couple more Santa Paula sightems.

I could be wrong, but I somehow remember taking railroad fan rides with my family in this area.

Santa Paula - 1

Shop Santa Paula - Ventura County  2019

Listos Pa La Foto - Ventura County  2019

Mountains, orange groves and a stop at the Fillmore Starbucks: the "faster route" promised by Google Maps had already been delayed when a sign pointed me towards the Santa Paula downtown area. Of course I had to stop and walk around with my small Canon G5X.

Listos Pa La Foto Plaque - Ventura County  2019

Ventura County

Mountains, Erosion - Ventura County  2019

Pines, Chaparrel - Ventura County  2019

Early Wednesday morning I dropped Hali off at the Burbank Airport for her flight to SFO. My plan was to travel north for some photos, staying one night in Arroyo Grande and one night in Monterey.

OK, so my normal route out of Los Angeles is to take Highway 101 through the San Fernando Valley to Ventura County and points north. But after leaving the airport I had no idea how to get over to 101 . . . so I turned on Google Maps and told it that my destination was the Santa Barbara Mission (I've figured out that GPS programs like specific destinations). Right away the authoritative voice of the GPS lady started giving me directions, telling me that her route would avoid some severe traffic issues on 101.

Much to my surprise I soon found myself traveling north, not on highway 101, but on highway 5, going towards the Grapevine. After a while I realized that the GPS program was taking me in a wide loop: up highway 5 towards Magic Mountain, then back towards the coast through Fillmore and Santa Paula.

So, I was avoiding traffic, but at the same time seeing a part of California that I hadn't visited in a long time. In the end, multiple photo stops used up whatever time savings I had gotten by taking the (very scenic) roundabout route. But I was in no hurry.

Orange Groves - Ventura County  2019

Channel Islands

Channel Islands - Ventura County  2013

Leaving Los Angeles Mike had to stop at the beaches just north of Ventura to take some pix of the clouds soaring over the Channel Islands.

Fisherman, Pacific Storm

Well, Mike did it again.

He left the ISO setting on his camera too high, that is. This time, the camera was set to 400 for the entire day’s drive up Highway 101. At least it wasn’t 800.

This photo was taken just north of Ventura, where the fisherman had just caught a nice bit of kelp.

(Alternate sentence): This photo was taken just north of Ventura, where the fisherman was engaging in a heroic struggle with the elements.

Photo: Fisherman, Pacific Storm—Ventura County, 2009